"Let's hurry," I said.

Leroy and Lorelei nodded, while Anna gave my hand a brief squeeze. The four of us, plus Aurora who jumped back into my body, rushed towards the entrance to our tunnel. I hoped to reach it before the patrol of demons did. However, to my dismay, we were too late.

When the tunnel entrance came into sight, we saw a group of demons crowded around it. There were five of them in total. Four were red-skinned and long-eared imps. Unlike the ones from the chamber we just left, these ones carried spears made of black metal. Dangerous, but not a serious threat to me or Anna given our level of mastery.

However, the fifth demon was a different story. Somewhat humanoid, it stood at about my height. It had pitch black skin and a skeletal thin body, with limbs that were far too long for its height. Both wicked-looking claws tipped both its hands and feet. It had a thin, triangle-shaped head with a mouth. That was it. It had no other facial features. No eyes, no nose, no ears, nothing. Just a maw filled with sharp teeth.

A hunger.

As their name implied, hungers were demons that existed to eat. This was the core of their very being, of their existence. However, no matter how much they ate, they were never satisfied. They were always hungry, thus the name.

Not only that, but they were Tier Three demons. However, that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was their ability to always sense prey, despite their lack of any obvious sensory organs. Prey, in this case, meant any living being. This made them useful sentries, since this ability even worked against those using invisibility spells or invisibility enchanted items.

Like us.

The moment we saw the hunger, its head snapped in our direction. I bit back a curse and rushed forwards using [Lightning Dash], moving faster and going further than before, thanks to reaching Second Star. I moved far enough away from Leroy and Lorelei that my invisibility bracelet no longer hid them. However, that didn't matter right now. What mattered was killing the demons before they raised the alarm.

The hunger crouched, before it leaped in my direction, clawed hands reaching towards me. It opened its mouth wide, drool dripping from its maw.

[Storm Dragon's Fang]

I imbued my sword with Lightning, before I thrust it forward. My sword pierced through the hunger's maw and emerged from the back of its head. It froze in place, as if trying to process the fact that it was now dead. When I pulled my sword out, the hunger remained standing for a bit, before it collapsed to the ground. Black blood oozed from its wound.

This all happened in a matter of seconds.

The imps, surprised by the sudden appearance of Leroy and Lorelei, panicked when an invisible enemy killed the hunger. I tried to kill them as fast as possible, but it was too late. The imps fled in different directions, each one screaming at the top of its lungs. I killed the ones heading towards my friends, but left the others alone. It didn't matter. I failed. The imps had already raised the alarm. I deactivated my invisibility bracelet.

"Go!"

Leroy and Lorelei rushed towards the tunnel entrance and crawled through. Anna deactivated her own invisibility enchanted item and came into view. She held a small glass bead in her hands. The magical tracking device.

"Just in case." She said, grinning at me.

A moment later, the small glass bead emitted a powerful magical signal. Any Awakened within a few hundred miles would be able to sense it. Standing next to it felt uncomfortable, to say the least. It felt like standing next to a raging bonfire.

Anna crawled through the tunnel entrance. I followed right after her. Leroy and Lorelei had gone on ahead. Before we followed them, Anna buried the magical tracking device in the dirt. And then we were off.

We rushed through the tunnel. When we reached the halfway point, I felt the earth around us rumble. Dirt rained down from the ceiling. However, the tunnel held.

Before I could let out a sigh of relief, an unholy sound tore through the air. Countless voices roared in unison. It sounded like a chorus from hell. Considering the circumstances, that wasn't inaccurate.

Anna and I shared a look, before we continued on our way. Soon, we emerged from the tunnel. The others stood nearby, waiting for us. Night had fallen while we were in the enemy hideout, blanketing the land in shadows.

"What happened?" Andre demanded.

"They found us." I said. "We need to get out of here."

At this point, our best chance at survival was getting as far away from here as possible. Now that we revealed the enemy hideout, and used the magical tracking device to reveal its location to every Awakened within a several hundred mile radius, our enemies had no reason to remain hidden.

"My people set up camp south of here." Anna said. "If we meet up with them, they can protect us."

"In that case, you take the lead." I said.

Anna nodded, before she took off in a certain direction. The rest of us followed her. We left behind our camping gear, since the weight would just slow us down. Everyone other than Anna and myself wore fearful expressions on their faces. They never had to deal with a situation like this before. I wanted to tell them that everything would be alright. However, that would be a lie. Right now, I couldn't guarantee anyone's safety.

'Aurora,' I said, speaking to her through our bond, 'Can you keep an eye out and warn us if any demons head in our direction?'

My spirit companion poked her head out of my chest and looked up at me.

'I'm not a dog.' She said in a curt tone. 'If you expect to make use of me, I demand compensation.'

Her words left me flabbergasted.

'You're doing this now?' I asked.

'Yes.' Aurora said without an ounce of shame.

A part of me wanted to ring her neck. However, I held back my temper. Now was not the time.

'What do you want?' I asked.

'Cuddles.' Aurora said in a serious tone.

I almost tripped when I heard this, but managed to regain my balance at the last moment. The others gave me odd looks, but I just ignored them.

'What?' I asked.

'I want three hours of cuddles as compensation for my previous help, and any help I provide for the rest of the night.'

For a moment, I wondered if I was dreaming. My friends and I were fleeing from demons, while my spirit companion was demanding cuddles as compensation.

'Why do you need cuddles?' I asked, unable to hold back my curiosity. 'You can just go inside my body.'

Aurora pouted.

'It's not the same.' She said. 'Do we have a deal or not?'

'Sure, but only after this is all over.'

Aurora nodded, before leapt out of my body and dove into the ground. After that, I focused all my attention on following Anna. We ran for close to an hour. Thankfully, we were all martial artists. Our stamina and endurance exceeded that of normal people by a significant margin. We could keep this pace up for hours if need be.

The entire time, I felt the signal from the magical tracking device, no matter how far we ran. It blazed like a bonfire on a cold and dark night.

Despite my fears, no demons chased us down. A part of me wondered if we had gotten away with it. The demons and their summoners knew that we had found their hideout, but that didn't mean they could track us down right away.

My hopes were dashed when Aurora emerged from the ground and jumped onto me. She crawled up my body and settled on my shoulders.

'There is a group of demons chasing after you.' Aurora said to me through our bond. 'A pack of hellhounds led by a group of hungers. They'll catch up with you soon.'

I bit back a curse.

"Everyone stop!"

We all stopped running.

"What are you doing?" Corrie demanded. "We need to keep going!"

Anna wore a grim expression on her face.

"Aurora found something." She said, looking at me.

I nodded, and relayed what Aurora told me. Everyone other than Anna blanched.

"That's it," Corrie said, a hollow look in her eyes, "We're dead. We should've never come here!"

Anna put a hand on her shoulder.

"We're not dead." She said. "If we work together, we can get through this."

Corrie wore a fragile expression on her face, as if afraid to believe Anna's words.

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"Truly?" She asked.

Anna nodded.

"Trust me." She said.

Corrie stared at her for a moment, before nodding.

"Anna's right." I said. "Demons are dangerous foes, but they are not invincible. We can defeat them." I grinned. "Now gather round and let me tell you my plan."

A few minutes later, Anna and I stood side by side while we waited for the demons to arrive. The others were nowhere in sight. In some strange twist of irony, during our flight from the enemy hideout, we ended up at the scorched plain where we fought the fire beak and the imps. The moon illuminated the land around us, giving us some light to see by. A cool breeze blew through, caressing my skin.

Silence and tension hung heavy in the air as Anna and I waited for the demons to arrive. Despite the dire situation, my heart raced inside my chest. The upcoming fight filled me with excitement rather than dread.

"You know," Anna said, breaking the silence, "I think this will be our first time fighting together."

"You're right." I said, before I had an idea. "Shall we make things interesting?"

Anna raised an eyebrow at me.

"How?"

"Want to see who can kill the most demons?" I asked. "The winner can demand any one thing from the loser." I paused. "Within reason."

A grin spread across Anna's face.

"You're on." She said.

We didn't have to wait long after that. A glow appeared in the distance. It started out small, but grew bigger and bigger as it drew closer. The ground beneath us started to shake. A few moments later, I could make out the source of the glow. It was the pack of hellhounds. I guessed there were about a dozen of them, give or take a few. Dangerous, but manageable.

The real threat were the hungers. Their pitch black skin made it difficult to see them, but I saw a few running among the pack of hellhounds. I counted at least five, but it was difficult to make out their exact numbers.

The moment they saw us, the hellhounds let out a chorus of unearthly howls. They had sighted their prey. The sound raised the hairs on the back of my neck. An instinctive reaction.

Anna and I both took stances as we waited for the demons to reach us. The shaking grew worse as they drew closer and closer. For a moment, I was worried that the shaking would affect Leroy and Richard. All I could do was trust them and hope for the best.

Soon, the demons were almost upon us. The hungers pulled ahead of the hellhounds, no doubt eager to feast on our flesh. I saw seven of them, two more than my initial count. The hungers ran towards us, their maws wide open. Three of them headed for Anna, three of them headed for me, and the last one hung back a little. They almost reached our position, just as the hellhound ran over a certain spot.

"Now!" I yelled out.

The ground beneath the hellhounds exploded as Leroy and Richard emerged from underground, stabbing upward with their greatswords. At the same time, a barrage of arrows flew out from the left, appearing out of nowhere. Andrew and Lorelei emerged from thin air and attacked from the right. The hellhounds, caught in a three-pronged ambush, let out howls of pain.

After that, I couldn't afford to split my focus anymore and gave the hungers my full attention. Anna and I charged forward to meet them. Of the three facing me, one leapt high into the air and came at me from above. The other two flanked me, attacking from the sides.

[Concealing Mist]

I breathed out a thick, white mist that blanketed the immediate area around me. At first glance, using this technique was pointless. Since hungers could sense invisible prey, they had no trouble sensing me through my [Concealing Mist]. While it was more powerful now that I had reached Second Star, these were Tier Three demons. However, my other techniques grew more powerful as well.

[Mist Sword]

I formed six illusory swords out of mist and used them to attack the two hungers flanking me, three for each one. The hungers ignored the illusory swords and focused on me.

A foolish mistake.

Now that I had reached Second Star, I could now attack enemies with the swords I created using [Mist Sword], controlling them with my mana. Each one only had about a sixth of my offensive power. However, that was more than enough for my needs.

Black blood sprayed into the air as the six illusory swords inflicted wounds on the two hungers. Shallow wounds, true, but enough to delay them both for a moment. I turned my attention to the hunger attacking me from above. The problem with jumping was that it became impossible to change one's trajectory afterwards.

[Storm Dragon's Claws]

I imbued my sword with Lightning and swung it four times. To my disappointment, I couldn't cut through the hunger's body. The demon was tougher than it looked. Still, I managed to inflict four gashes along its body. Afterwards, I used [Lightning Dash] to change my position.

The hunger from above shrieked, before it hit the ground with a thud. As it scrambled to get back onto its feet, the other two hungers tried to rush me. My illusory swords continued to attack, inflicting more wounds, but the hungers ignored them. I prepared to meet the two hungers, but then my intuition screamed at me in warning.

Without hesitation, I used [Lightning Dash] to change position again. Good thing too. The seventh hunger, that one that hung back earlier, attacked me from behind. If I hadn't moved right away, it would've taken my head.

The other two hungers tried to take advantage of this. One clawed at me, while the other tried to bite me with its toothy maw. I evaded the former with [Elusive Mist] and thrust my sword towards the latter with [Storm Dragon's Fang]. It pierced through the hunger's head, killing it right away.

So, targeting the head was the fastest way to kill hungers. Good to know.

I used [Lightning Dash] to change my position once again. Unlike before, the three remaining hungers didn't charge at me right away. After I killed one of their own, they realized that I wasn't easy prey. This made them wary.

Well then. If they weren't going to come to me, I was going to go to them.

I dashed towards the three hungers, using my six illusory swords to harry and harass them. They hesitated for a moment, before they rushed forward to meet me. At the end of the day, they were still Tier Three demons while I was a mere Second Star martial artist.

When they drew close enough, the three hungers attacked me with their claws. It appeared they learned from their comrade's demise. Not that this would help them. I evaded their attacks using [Elusive Mist].

However, there were so many and they moved so fast that I couldn't avoid all of them. One of the hungers clawed my side, drawing blood. Thankfully, my armor mitigated the worst of it. Otherwise it would've gutted me.

[Storm Dragon's Claw]

I focused all of my swings on the hunger that clawed me, aiming for its neck. The first swing left a deep gash, the second and third swings deepened this gash, and the fourth swing decapitated the hunger. Afterwards, I used [Lightning Dash] to give myself some distance from the remaining two hungers.

I took a moment to consider my situation. While I managed to kill two of the hungers, my victory wasn't guaranteed. The wound in my side burned and oozed out blood. Not only that, but constant uses of my various techniques had drained both my mana and physical stamina. I needed to finish this fight as soon as possible.

Time to go all out.

I unleashed my Aura. A spectral dragon made of silvery-blue light appeared around my body. The sound of lightning and thunder cracked all around me. The smell of ozone filled the air.

Unleashing my Aura drained my mana at a rapid rate. I had seconds before I ran out. I needed to kill both hungers before that happened.

I used [Lightning Dash] to get behind one of them and swung my sword towards its neck. I didn't even bother using a technique. The hunger tried to evade, but I moved too fast. Coated in my Aura, my sword cut through the hunger's neck with ease and decapitated it. Black blood sprayed from the stump.

The last hunger tried to take advantage of my distraction, but I attacked it with all six of my illusory swords. They pierced its body, buying me the time I needed. I raised my sword high and cut down in a vertical slash. The hunger stood still for a moment, before its body split in half and fell to the ground.

I stopped unleashing my Aura, saving myself a bit of mana, before I turned my attention towards the others. The hungers that had attacked Anna were all dead, their heads smashed and burned. Meanwhile, the rest of our group managed to kill quite a few of the hellhounds. A little over half the pack remained.

Not for long, however. I watched as Anna kicked one hellhound and sent it flying into another. Both tumbled to the ground. Anna pressed her advantage and quite literally kicked the two hellhounds while they were down. The rest of our group handled the remaining four hellhounds.

A part of me considered joining in, but I decided against it. There wasn't any point. Instead, I kept an eye out while tending to my wounds. There was a possibility that this wasn't the only group of demons coming after us, and I didn't want them to catch us unawares.

The others killed the remaining hellhounds while I bandaged my side and drank a Healing Potion. My side continued to ache, but at least I wouldn't bleed to death.

Afterwards, I headed towards the others. While they won, they hadn't come out of this fight unscathed. Everyone sported injuries. Leroy and Richard in particular. They received the most injuries, since they stood at the forefront. Corrie was the exception, since she attacked the hellhounds from a distance.

Despite this, we couldn't stay here for long. The demons would come after us again. The sooner we left, the better. After everyone received first aid, we headed out once more, albeit at a much slower pace. However, before we left, Andre and Corrie made sure to return the invisibility enchanted items that they borrowed.

As we continued heading south, Anna and I led from the front. She wore a smug smile on her face.

"Why are you so chipper?" I asked.

Anna grinned at me.

"I won our bet." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I killed more hungers than you."

Anna's grin widened.

"That wasn't the bet. Our best was to see who could kill the most demons."

I thought back to earlier and realized that she was right. Damn it. I sighed.

"Don't worry," Anna said, "I think you'll like what I have in mind."

And with that, our group fled into the night, putting as much distance between us and the demons as possible.

After traveling for several hours, our group ran into a patrol of Anna's people. At first they found us suspicious, which made sense given the late hour. However, they grew far more respectful after they caught sight of their young mistress. The patrol led us back to their campsite, located in the same place as before: the rocky hill where we fought the fiend and the demon summoner.

Good thing too. Everyone neared their limits. Martial artists had superhuman levels of endurance and stamina. However, they weren't invincible. Fighting a group of demons and then traveling through rough terrain for hours on end had pushed our group to the brink. Even Corrie, who hadn't sustained any injuries, looked ready to drop.

When we neared the campsite, the light and sound hit me like a physical force. Relief flooded me, so strong that I almost collapsed. Leroy and Richard must have felt the same, since they actually collapsed. I didn't blame them. During the fight with the demons, Leroy and Richard had pushed themselves the hardest to keep everyone else safe.

A group of Anna's people came out to meet us, led by the Third Star martial artist in charge: Captain Shannon. At least, I think she was a captain. I wasn't sure how the warriors of Anna's Clan were organized. I would have to ask Anna later, after we rested.

Anna's people led us into the camp, with four of them carrying Leroy and Richard. They brought us into one of the large pavilion tents in the center of the camp, before tending to our wounds.

To my amusement, Anna's people argued about who would get to tend to me. I wore my wooden mask, but they still remembered what I looked like. Anna, on the other hand, was far less amused. Captain Shannon noticed this and decided to tend to Anna and I herself. She worked with a professional expression on her face, her movements swift and efficient.

Afterwards, our group headed off to bed. There weren't enough pavilion tents for everyone to have their own, so some of us doubled up. Anna took advantage of this to drag me to her tent.

"What about our reputations?" I asked.

Luminian culture was more conservative than Earth's, at least when compared to the USA. It was considered scandalous for an unmarried man and woman to share a bed together, even if nothing happened. This was especially true if one or both were of high status.

"Who cares about that?" Anna said with a snort. "I know what I want, and I won't let something like reputation stop me." She shrugged. "Witnessing the end of the world tends to put things into perspective."

Fair point. I didn't have an argument against that.

"Are you going to use your prize from the bet on this?"

"No." Anna raised an eyebrow. "Do I have to?"

I mulled it over, before I shook my head.

Anna smirked. "Good boy."

She took me by hand and brought me to her bed. We held each other in our arms. Anna's body felt warm and comforting. Her vanilla scent mingled with the smell of blood. For some reason, this didn't put me off. My eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Soon, I drifted off to sleep.

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